"Actor Denied Straight Nose": Louis Wolheim and the Gendered Practice of Plastic Surgery in Silent-Era Hollywood

Authors

Heather Addison, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-24-2019

Publication Title

Journal of Cinema and Media Studies

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Volume

58

Issue

4

Abstract

Hollywood's embrace of plastic surgery as a means of sculpting performers' bodies to meet standards of youth and beauty is a long-standing phenomenon. Using archival materials available in the Howard Hughes Motion Picture Records at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, this article offers a case study of Louis Wolheim (1881–1931), a motion-picture star under contract to Caddo, Howard Hughes's production company, from the late 1920s until the time of his death. Wolheim caused a national sensation in 1927 when he told reporters about his plan to have his iconic "hard-boiled" facial features surgically altered.

Disciplines

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Film and Media Studies

File Format

pdf

File Size

3.672 KB

Language

English

Repository Citation

Addison, H. (2019). "Actor Denied Straight Nose": Louis Wolheim and the Gendered Practice of Plastic Surgery in Silent-Era Hollywood. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 58(4), University of Texas Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cj.2019.0055